MARY BRASWELL: Looking back at deadly April events in American history.

Each week Albany Herald researcher Mary Braswell looks for interesting events, places and people from the past. You can contact her at (229) 888-9371 or [email protected].

A look back at events in April finds the month has a history of violence. Here are five life-changing days for Americans and none all that far back in time.

WACO, TEXAS

— The Branch Dividians is a religious sect that split from the Seventh-day Adventist Church of the Shepherd’s Rod in 1955. As membership grew, the church was moved to a hilltop ranch about nine miles away from Waco, Texas.

— In 1989, Vernon Howell, later known as David Koresh, paid all the back taxes on the Mount Carmel Center and was in command by 1990.

— Howell separated husbands from wives, allowing only him to have sexual relations by order of God to procreate with the women to establish a House of David. According to Howell, another command from God was to build an Army for God to prepare for the end days and the salvation of his followers. In August 1990, Vernon Howell legally became David Koresh.

— A newspaper article in February 1993 claimed Koresh was a child abuser, polygamist and was suspected of stockpiling weapons. When police attempted to arrest Koresh on weapons charges, gunfire broke out killing four FBI agents. Negotiations and religious rantings would go on for 51 days.

— With the approval of U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno and backed by President Bill Clinton, an assault on the compound to end the siege was put into motion. Initially, it was hoped that Koresh and his followers would surrender with only the use of tear gas.

— By 6:30 a.m. on April 19, 1993, the compound was filled with tear gas. Shortly after noon, the first flames appeared. Within an hour, the entire compound was leveled. In all, 78 Branch Davidians died, including two unborn children. Twenty deaths were followers younger than age 18. David Koresh was 33.

OKLAHOMA CITY

— At 10:02 a.m. Eastern time on April 19, 1995, a rental truck exploded outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

— Timothy McVeigh, the mastermind behind the bombing, turned out to be a 27-year-old decorated veteran of the U.S. Army. His reason was to avenge the botched raid on the ranch in Waco exactly two years earlier. A co-conspirator, Terry Nichols, was also a veteran.

— In June 2007, McVeigh was found guilty on 11 counts of murder, conspiracy and using a weapon of mass destruction. He was put to death by lethal injection on June 11, 2001. Nichols faced 161 counts of murder in state court and was sentenced to 161 consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole. His home is the Supermax Federal Prison in Florence, Colo.

— The bombing, the deadliest domestic terrorism attack in U.S. history, killed 168 people and wounded more than 500 others. Among the dead were 19 children attending daycare.

COLUMBINE

— Journals and videos revealed, after it was too late, that teens Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris had dreams (and plans) to rival that of the Oklahoma City bombing. The duo hoped that, after setting off homemade explosives in the cafeteria at the busiest time of day and killing hundreds of students, they would then shoot survivors fleeing from Columbine High School.

— Using instructions found on the Internet, Harris and Klebold constructed a total of 99 improvised explosive devices of various designs and sizes. They sawed off the barrels and butts of their shotguns to make them easier to conceal.

— Just before the massacre, the teens made home videos with references to what they planned and apologized to their parents.

— On April 20, 1999, the pair opened fire inside Columbine High School. Harris was equipped with a 12-gauge Savage-Springfield 67H pump-action shotgun (which he discharged a total of 25 times) and a Hi-Point 995 Carbine 9 mm carbine with 13 10-round magazines (which he fired a total of 96 times). Klebold was equipped with a 9 mm Intratec TEC-9 semi-automatic handgun with one 52-, one 32-, and one 28-round magazine and a 12-gauge Stevens 311D double-barreled sawed-off shotgun. Klebold primarily fired the TEC-9 handgun for a total of 55 times, while he discharged a total of 12 rounds from his double-barreled shotgun.

— Thirteen students and one teacher died. Twenty-three others were injured. Dylan Klebold, 17, and Eric Harris, 18, committed suicide.

VIRGINIA TECH

— Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Va., was a battleground on the morning of April 16, 2007. At 7:15 a.m., police were notified of at least two shootings at an on-campus coed dorm.

— About two-and-one-half hours later, a second 911 call is received about a second round of shooting at the engineering science and mechanics building.

— The gunman was Seung-Hui Cho, a 23-year-old South Korean who was a legal resident and student in the United States.

— When Norris Hall, site of the second round of fire and most deadly, was over, Cho took his own life. Before noon on that horrible day, 32 people died at the hands of a young man with documented mental illness in legal possession of firearms. Cho’s suicide made 33.

BOSTON MARATHON

— It was Patriot’s Day, April 15, 2013, and the event was the 117th Boston Marathon. The winner had crossed the finish line some two hours earlier and about 5,700 runners remained on the course.

— At 2:49 p.m., an explosion occurred, followed by a second explosion 13 seconds later one block away from the first. Some runners kept their pace until 2:57 p.m., when the race was abruptly halted.

— Two pressure cooker bombs took the lives of three spectators and injured at least 264 others. Treatment for injuries included at least 14 amputations and the work of 27 hospitals.

— Brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarneav were identified as suspects only after killing a 27-year-old Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer as he sat in his car on campus on April 18. The two then carjacked a Mercedes-Benz SUV.

— Shortly after midnight on April 19, the suspects were identified in Watertown and a gunfight followed with a combined 200-300 rounds fired. The older brother, Tamerlan, was shot then run over by his brother as he escaped in the SUV. He was pronounced dead at 1:35 am.

— Dzhokhar was taken into custody at 8:42 pm on April 19 after found hiding in a boat. On April 8, 2015, he was found guilty on 30 counts, 17 of which carry the possibility of the death penalty. The sentencing phase of the trail begins Tuesday. He is now 21 years old.

QUIK QUIZ answer:

c) David Koresh (Waco)